Dreams of school and dreams of being in class are some of the most common dreams that people have. I noticed a trend in these kind of dreams with myself and maybe some other journals I have read.
My old dreams of class used to have full rooms of students and a teacher that held the classes attention. My new dreams of class are either just a few or several students, a teacher that seems unprepared or somehow up against something they just aren’t ready for. Or if I see a whole school, the school only has a bus full of students.
Underpinning these dreams, the teacher seems to know that all this is important, but still doesn’t know exactly what to do. The students don’t really even seem to know why they are there and they cut up.
I was interested to see if anyone noticed changes in their school or class type dreams. And either way, what is the context and character of your dreams about school, college, class, etc. I kinda really hope it’s not just me having these dreams of class that have this almost hopeless futility about them.
My school dreams have slightly shifted in style over the years, too, but definitely not in the same way like yours. For many years they were the classical „oh snap today we have exams/deadline of assignments/… and I’m not the least bit prepared“ but „wait a second I already graduated, I can care a little less maybe“. Now they are mostly in the vein of „I have already been to school and so I know I can do well here“. They are very confident now, I’m treading on very familiar ground. I still forgot homework every now and then or am completely unprepared but I’m full of improvisation in those situations.
As for the dreamscape and DCs, both are not very prominent in my school dreams. In many of them I don’t even enter school. For example I’m still at home packing my school bag. If I’m at school then it’s usually very focused on my desk. Teachers are mostly faceless DCs. In the past I dreamt about specific pastime teachers very often but now not so much anymore. As for school mates, usually there are only 1 or 2 that play a role in the dream, if at all. Those are almost always drawn from the pool of my closest friends back in school.
Reflecting on these changes as I’m writing this, I think a possible explanation for the evolution of both my dreams and also your dreams could be that memory of school times is slowly fading into the background so there are less details from your actual time at school that your brain can draw from. In your case this manifests in a more desolate dreamscape maybe. But the theme itself doesn’t get old in the same way because time in school was the most moulding experience in your life (I made a post about it a while back here, the whole thread is readworthy maybe).
That all really opens up a can of worms in a good way. I read the other post you linked as well a few times. What you said about adolescence and that being a moulding time really struck home. There is a deep connection there and an attachment to the people I got to know on that time. How that defines who you are versus trying to get validation from your parents shifting into trying to get validation from your peers.
And while it’s hard to pin down what to focus on here, I don’t know if it’s better to just kinda talk about what comes to mind. First of all, a lot of college is now done on laptops in Skype calls so that should change the content of many people’s dreams going into the future. I have to say many of my school dreams seem to be in the college setting. It kinda makes me wonder why isn’t high school done online in the same way but I have my own cynical ideas on why it is not. If it’s good enough for college, it’s good enough for high school, but that feels childish for me to say that.
And since I’m posting by phone I can’t read again what you said verbatim but it was like there is a dwindling in the importance of those memories but yet an anchor holding to the importance of that defining my or anyone’s being.
With your ideas adding to my understanding of my perspective I would say that it might have something to do with playing online games and meeting people in them. The social aspect of that and learning the ropes of interacting with people that way, also with people at work is and was a school within itself. Think of a dead game but there are still several people logging on and keeping the game itself alive in a sense. Or even people working at a job that is outdated but validated through the quality of the people doing it.
So there are also mini defining moments in our lives, adolescence being the big one, then from there small corrections and overcorrections. Or at least attempts at corrections that may be effective or futile. As we try our best to define who we are making a multitude of mistakes along the way.
All I can say is your reply and the other post was fascinating and it feels like books worth of dialogue could be written trying to piece it out. School dreams are so prevalent with everyone and in a way that can tell us so much about a person. It almost feels sad, we know that getting away from the ego is a happier life, yet here we are working so hard even in our sleep to define ourselves.
I didn’t really feel qualified to give a wise answer here, but wanted to offer some thoughts in reply. That is all very deep that you talked about, and you are definitely on to something with the theory.
Yes, there are definitely corrections to the kind of person you developed into as youngster. By correction I understand a modification of some part of you. Even more relevant I find the „core“ concept that Glypheye brought up in the other thread. In your youth your core personality is defined and then in the later stages in life it will get many more additions and extensions on top of that. Some in the form of layers that cover part of the core and some as bulky extrusions that are also very individual and person-defining.
I think there’s nothing too profound in all of this. To people with a major in psychology it’s probably even more mundane. Or such a person would look at our ramblings and face-palm at how much we’re off, who knows
I think as dreamers we are just much more prone to all these kinds of questions because we are continuously experiencing the process. Normal people (wakers :p) only see the result after they left adolescence and take it for granted that who they are or the person they are close to are the way they are. Whereas a dreamer is repeatedly confronted with those moulding moments and experiences in their dream, even long into adulthood.
I agree and not only do we confront these experiences that mould or have an affect on us. We also are sorta aware that there are so many more experiences like that that we don’t remember. Those that affect us subconsciously, or really I would almost call it consciously but sneakily. I mean this in a good way, it can lead to more self-conscious behavior in waking life and possibly make us more aware of the relationships, and actually effect those relationships we have with others.
